Transguard launches outsourcing solutions for UAE SMEs

Transguard, the UAE-based business services provider, is supporting the needs of the UAE’s 350,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through an outsourcing service designed to cut overheads and increase efficiency across operations.

The strategic initiative, allows SMEs to benefit from their own (contracted) in-house team of dedicated professionals, equipped to handle such business functions as administration, IT, PRO services, HR, healthcare, transport, payroll and visa processing, as if they were an organic part of the enterprise.

The cost effective and risk averse solution is just the latest addition to Transguard’s outsourced workforce solutions, which currently provide more than 2,500 full time staff to companies throughout the UAE, on a temporary, short-term or permanent contract basis.

Transguard has supplied fully outsourced workforces since 2001, supporting a wide range of industries including construction, aviation, hospitality and retail, providing business owners with cost-effective solutions to help things run smoothly, and the next step in the provision of these services will see Transguard supporting the region’s SMEs through the provision of flexible and cost-effective solutions, according to Greg Ward, Managing Director, Transguard.

“SMEs are the driving force of the UAE’s plans to boost its knowledge economy, however, they are acutely sensitive to economic peaks and troughs, cash flow issues and permanent staffing costs which can be a significant and recurring overhead. The introduction of outsourced white-collar services, will bridge gaps in administrative work, HR and employee services, while freeing the enterprise’s human capital to focus on the core operations of the business,” said Ward.

The backbone of the national economy, there are more than 350,000 SMEs in the UAE, accounting for 94 per cent of total companies operating in the country and generating 60 per cent of non-oil GDP. Targets issued by the Ministry of Economy (MoE) estimate this contribution will increase to 70 per cent of non-oil trade by 2021.

SMEs account for 73 per cent of companies in the wholesale and retail trade, 16 per cent of companies in the services sector and 11 per cent of those in the manufacturing sector, according to figures from MoE. Of the total working population of the UAE, 86 per cent are employed by SMEs.

Underlining the talent and hiring demands of SMEs, in the first quarter of 2017 a recent survey of 138 enterprises found that 70 per cent planned to hire up to 10 additional staff, with six per cent reporting the need to hire 50 or more new employees.

The costs associated with this can be high and easily add up, given the UAE’s above average staff turnover rate. A 2013 survey by Bayt.com found that only 27.7 per cent of respondents had been in the same job for more than two and less than five years. Globally, average employee turnover is expected to reach 23.4 per cent in 2018 up from 20.6 per cent in 2012.

“Due to the nature of the business ecosystem, SMEs are sensitive to economic swings and Transguard is committed to managing the risk as well as the costs they face by providing a solution that puts business first. In outsourcing certain functions, SMEs can save significant amounts of money on holiday pay, sick pay, gratuity and healthcare costs, that Tranguard will bear. They also save time on recruiting talent to these functions and can minimise the resources used on training and orientation when a new employee joins the workforce,” said Ward.